Australia Day 2024
Officer of the Order of Australia
Professor Brett Sutton, M.B., B.S., F.R.S.P.H., F.A.C.T.M., F.A.F.P.H.M., A.O.
MHS 1984-1986
Awarded Officer of the Order of Australia, Australia Day 2024, for distinguished service to the people of Victoria through public health administration and governance, and to medicine.
Brett attended Maroondah High School, transferring at fourth form, he was elected SRC Rep in 1985 and 1986 and was in the Waterloo House Debating and Choir in 1986. Studying Medicine at Melbourne University, he specialised in Emergency Medicine, and worked overseas in Ethiopia, Kenya, Afghanistan, East Timor and Fiji. He completed a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University in 2008. In 2011 he joined the Victorian Department of Health in the field of Public Health, and was appointed Chief Health Officer in 2019, being the main medical officer advising the Victorian Government during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023 he was appointed Director of health and biosecurity at the C.S.I.R.O. He was the Victorian of the Year in 2023.
Member of the Order of Australia
Adrian Laird Polglase, M.B., M.S., F.R.A.C.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.S.Ed., F.A.C.S., A.M.
MHS 1963
Awarded Member of the Order of Australia, Australia Day 2024, for significant service to medicine as a surgeon, researcher and educator.
A student from Murrumbeena High School transferring to complete his Matric, Adrian was in the School Swimming Team and the played in the Second XVIII. He studied Medicine at Monash University, was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (England and Edinburgh) 1977 and Australia 1978 and the American College of Surgeons 1983. He completed his Master of Surgery at Monash in 1981. He was a Surgical Registrar at the Alfred Hospital, and then St Marks Hospital London, specialising in Colorectal surgery. Returning to the Alfred, he was a Consulting Surgeon 1978, Chief of Surgery at the Royal Southern Memorial Hospital (Caulfield) 1988. In 1995 he moved to Cabrini, appointed Clinical Dean, and Professor of Surgery and Chairman of the Cabrini Monash University Department of Surgery 1998, he stepped down in 2009.
He was a Founding Member of the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand in 1985 and a Life Member in 2022; Patron, Ostomy Association of Melbourne, since 1995; Patron and Founder, Let’s Beat Bowel Cancer, since 2011.
Medal of the Order of Australia
Peter Stephen Gaspar, O.A.M.
MHS 1953-1955
Awarded Medal of the Order of Australia, Australia Day 2024, for service to the Jewish community of Victoria.
Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, the year before Chamberlain’s appeasement which saw the occupation of his homeland by the Nazi’s. For two and half years his family were sheltered by Christian friends, colleagues and servants. In the winter of 1944, struggling to survive, they turned themselves in, his father was sent as a slave labourer to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Peter and his mother were sent to Theresienstadt camp. All three survived the holocaust, unlike 40 extended family members. Peter migrated to Australia in 1949 with his parents. A noted tennis player, he was in the School Team in 1955 and played for Waterloo (awarded House Colours). He also played Chess, soccer and the piano accordion. With Matric Honours in Social Studies and Economics, he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. He continued playing Tennis and Soccer with Jewish team Jypa. He married Lesley Meyerowitz in 1964, she was also awarded an O.A.M. in this year’s Australia Day Honours.
Working in the food industry, Peter was an executive with Soccomin International Fine Foods for 30 years, a member of the Australian Government Food Industry Consultative Council, 1978-1982 and the Australian Food Importers Council, 1972-1990. In the community he has been active with: B’nai B’rith Unit Mitzvah, founding Committee Member, former Treasurer and Secretary; B’nai B’rith Courage to Care Member, Committee of Management, 1998-2020, Treasurer for 10 years, Facilitator and Speaker, Holocaust Victims Program at various schools and Victoria Police for 20 years; Former Committee Member, Annual Gandel Oration, B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission; Holocaust survivor speaker, Melbourne and Metropolitan Chapters, University of the Third Age (U3A), Victoria and a Presenter, Jewish Holocaust Museum.
David Philip McCabe, O.A.M.
MHS 1947-1949
Awarded Medal of the Order of Australia, Australia Day 2024, for service to the community of Wangaratta.
A Lloyd Street Central School student, David contributed a number of sketches for The Unicorn and was a Member of the Magazine Committee in 1949, rowed in the School’s Second Four and also for Forrest. Completing his Leaving Certificate, his went to the Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT) on a Senior Technical Scholarship 1953-1956. Joining the Education Department, he was appointed to Warrnambool Technical School in 1957, the Arts Centre in 1958 and Echuca Technical School in 1960, the year he married Barbara Hayton. By 1973 he was Deputy Principal of Irymple Technical School, before being appointed Principal of Wangaratta Technical School in 1978 and then Director of the Wangaratta College of Technical and Further Education 1981-1988.
Very active in the community, he was a member of the Killawarra Fire Brigade from 1980 to 2013 and Secretary 2004-2013; Former President and Life Member of the Wangaratta Historical Society; President (1992-1996) and Life Member of the Wangaratta Sports Club; member of the Friends of Wangaratta Gallery, sometime President, Secretary and Treasurer, Member, Exhibitions Gallery Committee, 1996-2016.and Life Member. He joined the Wangaratta Ski Club in 1980, Secretary 1984-1989, President 1991-1993, Public Officer 1987-2005 and appointed Life Member 1997.
The Wangaratta Art Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of David and Barbara’s work in 2022.
Peter Thornton Murray, O.A.M.
MHS 1948-1951
Awarded Medal of the Order of Australia, Australia Day 2024, for service to the community of Canberra.
Peter went to the Royal Military College, Duntroon) on leaving MHS, joined the Royal Australian Corps of Signals rising to the rank of Major when he served in Vietnam 1968, commanding a Detachment of 547 Signal Troop. He retired in 1974 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He then became the Lessee of two BP petrol stations in Canberra, before moving into wholesale distribution of fuel and foods. He was a Committee Member 1975-1979 and President 1977 of the ACT/NSW Service Stations Association; Committee Member 1983-1991 and State President 1984-1986 of the ACT/NSW Branch, Australian Petroleum Agents and Distributors Association and Committee Member 1985-1995 and National Vice-President 1986-1987.
Active in the community, he is Treasurer since 2008 of Probus (Canberra), Vice-President 2010 and President 2011; Chair of the Renovation Committee of the William Dampier Memorial (Broome) 2013-2016 (on which he also wrote a book); Committee Chairman, Aboriginal War Memorial, Broulee, mid-late 2010s; Active with the Aranda Scout Unit 1975-1977, and executive member 1973-1982, he continues to be active with the Lord Baden-Powell Society; Vice-President, 1983-1985, Committee Member, 1979-1985 and 1997-2000 and Former Member, Finance Committee of the ACT Cancer Society.
